Outlook: Here’s what the starting lineup looks like for the nation’s No. 6-ranked team: fifth-year senior, fifth-year senior, fifth-year senior, fifth-year senior, fifth-year senior. Musselman is a proponent of the six-man rotation, and the only other player averaging more than 11 minutes is Johnson, a fourth-year junior. All six are transfers. That’s not to say the rest of the bench isn’t any good. It includes a senior transfer (Corey Henson) who averaged 14.6 points at Wagner and a five-star freshman center (Jordan Brown) who turned down Arizona. But it’s hard to get minutes when the Martin twins forego the NBA Draft to return for their senior year along with a first team all-conference player in Caroline. Tre’shawn Thurman and Trey Porter round out a starting five that goes 6-7, 6-7, 6-7, 6-8 and 6-11. How good are they? They shot just 39.3 percent in the conference opener against Utah State, which some consider the conference’s second-best team, and still won 72-49. Nevada is trying to do two things no one has in the Mountain West’s 20-year history: go undefeated in league play and win a third straight regular-season title.

Outlook: Hutson, the longtime SDSU assistant, takes over for Rodney Terry, who made a horizontal move to UTEP after complaining about the lack of basketball resources at Fresno State. Junior forward Bryson Williams, among the best bigs in the conference, decided to follow Terry to UTEP. The Bulldogs’ other star, Taylor, toyed with turning pro before returning for his final season. He partners with New Mexico State grad transfer Huggins to create the most lethal backcourt outside Nevada (and maybe including Nevada). But there’s not a lot of frontcourt depth, and the Bulldogs are an unproven commodity after closing the nonconference season with seven straight home games (and losing to Utah Valley). The only road win was the MW opener at cellar-dweller San Jose State. But Taylor is healthy again after missing four games with a dislocated left elbow, and with him the Bulldogs look like the best of the rest after Nevada.

Outlook: Smith has already made a strong case for Mountain West coach of the year, leading the Aggies to a 10-3 nonconference record after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll and star guard Koby McEwen transferred to Marquette. Merrill is back (he’s in his fifth year out of high school but is only a junior because he took a two-year Mormon mission), and Smith landed the 6-11, 240-pound Queta from Portugal’s under-20 national team. They lead the league in rebound margin, at an impressive 10.9 per game. Smith comes to Utah State from South Dakota, where he had 22- and 26-win seasons in his last two years. He knows the Mountain West well, having served on Tim Miles’ staff at Colorado State for five years. The best wins are against Saint Mary’s and UC Irvine, and the losses so far are all legit: ASU on neutral floor, at BYU, at Houston and at Nevada. It will be interesting to see how they do now that teams have two months of film on Smith’s new system.

Outlook: The team picked second in the preseason poll could indeed finish second and challenge Nevada. Or it could implode and slide into the middle of an awful league. Already there have been wins by 39, 43 and 53 … and losses by 21, 26 and 30. The Aztecs have come from 19 down to win (twice) … and trailed an Ivy League team without athletic scholarships by 30 in the first half. The program built on lock-down D suddenly can’t guard anybody and is ranked 186th in Kenpom’s defensive efficiency metric. And the team that historically can’t shoot is 14th nationally in three-point accuracy at a tick under 40 percent. Yeah, none of it makes any sense. The conference schedule sets up nicely to build momentum, with most of the heavy lifting in the final few weeks. Then again, with his team, there is no such thing as easy games, even in a historically down year for the Mountain West. They’re all equally tough. Buckle up.

New Mexico

Outlook: The only reason SDSU is not the most confounding team in a most confounding league is because New Mexico is also in it. The Lobos were picked ninth in the preseason poll last season and finished third and nearly went to the NCAA Tournament, losing to SDSU in the Mountain West tournament final. Now they’re picked third with the infusion of several talented transfers and could slip to seventh, eighth, ninth — who knows. The downward spiral started early in preseason practice, when heralded Ohio State transfer JaQuan Lyle tore his Achilles and was lost for the season. Even with UConn transfer Vance Jackson and Kansas transfer Carlton Bragg, they went 3-4 at The Pit — the first time in Mountain West history they’ve had a losing nonconference record at home. Still … the Lobos looked awful in November and December last year and turned it around. There’s enough talent, and enough bad teams in this league, for them to do it again.

Outlook: Life without Chandler Hutchison, taken 22nd in the NBA Draft, began with a 72-70 home loss against Idaho State in the season opener, and things haven’t improved much since. The Broncos haven’t beaten anybody in the top 150 of the Kenpom or NET ratings, and they have losses against Loyola Marymount, Drake, Grand Canyon and Illinois State. Their offensive output has dropped from 78.2 last season to 69.9 points (ninth in the MW). After blowing a halftime lead in a 62-50 home loss against depleted Oregon on Dec. 29, Rice told media: “My answer, if we’re not going to be really skilled and can score a lot of points like we have in the past, well, we better be a heck of a lot tougher. … If we don’t get tougher, we’re not going to be good.”

Outlook: The Rebels have outrebounded their opponents in all 13 games this season and still managed to lose six of them, including a 25-pointer against Bucknell from the Patriot League. But that stat will get tested with Shakur Juiston, one of the conference’s best rebounders, opting for season-ending knee surgery and 6-11 center Cheickna Dembele expected to undergo hand surgery. An even longer streak that could be in jeopardy is the 1,052 straight games making at least one 3-pointer. The Rebels rank 333rd in Div. I in 3-point accuracy at 28.8 percent. One area they excel, however, is buzzer-beaters. They beat BYU in overtime on Noah Robotham’s fallaway 3, and got the winning basket with 1.2 seconds left against Colorado State on a defensive goaltending call. They even won a preseason exhibition against Div. II Montana State-Billings on Clyburn’s last-season layup.

Colorado State

Outlook: Medved makes it two Tim Miles disciples hired during the offseason (Utah State’s Smith being the other). He had success at Furman, where he took a team that had won seven games the previous year to 9, 11, 19 and 23 wins. He left for Drake, where he went 17-17 last season, then jumped to Colorado State and took three recruits with him. He replaces the colorful Larry Eustachy, who negotiated a $750,000 buyout last spring after a university investigation was critical of his treatment of players. The Rams have two solid players in Carvacho and Paige, but little else. They rank 317th nationally in defensive efficiency according to Kenpom. Only four of Div. I’s 353 teams force turnovers at a lower rate.

Outlook: This might be the tallest Falcons team in years, maybe ever. The starting lineup goes 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-7. The Falcons lead the Mountain West in shooting at 47.4 percent but they are uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, turning it over on 23.8 percent of their possessions (ranking 341st nationally) and struggling on the offensive boards despite their relative size. They have yet to beat anyone in the top 200 of Kenpom or NET. Still, surpassing last year’s six conference wins is possible given the state of the league.

Outlook: Even with first team all-conference selection James opting not to turn pro, the Cowboys are riding a three-legged horse. They have the conference’s worst NET rating at 286 (five spots below San Jose State) and nearly lost to Div. II Dixie State at home. In the Mountain West opener at the Arena-Auditorium, they trailed by 22 and lost by 14 against a Boise State team with a losing record. Nine players are gone from last season’s roster, which now consists of eight freshmen or sophomores. Despite having five players averaging in double figures, they rank second-to-last nationally in offensive rebounding. Their last Div. I win was Dec. 5.

San Jose State

Outlook: Just when Prioleau thought he had stabilized the situation, three top players transferred out. The lone conference win last season was against Utah State, but the Spartans have shown some resolve in close losses at Stanford and Cal.

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Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs beat Texas Southern, 103-64.

Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs beat Texas Southern, 103-64.

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Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs beat Texas Southern, 103-64.

Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs beat Texas Southern, 103-64.

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Aztecs head football coach Rocky Long discusses the team's 7-3 record and the expectations placed on a young team.

Aztecs head football coach Rocky Long discusses the team's 7-3 record and the expectations placed on a young team.

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In the battle to take over the city’s Mission Valley stadium site, Measure G wins with 55 percent of votes in favor of the measure, while rival Measure E garners just 30 percent approval.

In the battle to take over the city’s Mission Valley stadium site, Measure G wins with 55 percent of votes in favor of the measure, while rival Measure E garners just 30 percent approval.

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Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the season opener, 76-60.

Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the season opener, 76-60.

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Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs' 68-63 win over Chaminade in an exhibition game.

Hear from head coach Brian Dutcher and players after the Aztecs' 68-63 win over Chaminade in an exhibition game.